


Change of Plans

by Dimity Blue (Arnie)



Category: Line of Duty
Genre: Episode Related, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-03 16:07:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19467439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arnie/pseuds/Dimity%20Blue
Summary: Dot's POV of those last few scenes.Massive spoilers for the end of season 3.





	Change of Plans

Dot never meant things to go the way they did. Stitching Steve up was a good plan, an excellent one, in fact, if he did say so himself. Apart from ending the chase after the Caddy, it removed Dot's rival in AC-12. You would have had to be blind to miss how fond the Super was of Steve and he was Kate's best mate too.

With Steve gone, Dot would become the Super's right-hand man. Kate would need consoling too, of course, which would allow Dot to get closer to her.

Instead...instead Kate had proved herself to be just as stubborn as Steve and she'd somehow seen through Dot's smokescreen and pointed out all the inconsistencies of the evidence he'd brought against Steve.

No one had pointed out the profile of the Caddy was almost as good a fit for DI Cottan as it was for DS Arnott, which had surprised Dot because he'd felt that was the weakest part of his argument.

If only Lindsay Denton had taken that bribe. She'd taken the first, so why not the second? Maybe she hadn't minded turning a blind eye to Tommy Hunter and whatever was planned for him. Maybe she felt the Caddy was too dangerous to be allowed to carry on. Or maybe she'd realised she'd never live to spend most of the bribe. No matter. She'd been right that he'd never get away with killing her.

Dot had never planned on making a dramatic escape from AC-12, but it had become obvious he wasn't going to be able to talk them round. So, one overly dramatic escape it was, then, with a new life on the horizon for Dot.

Only Kate couldn't let him go, could she? And not in the way Dot had been dreaming of. She chased him down and there they were having a ridiculous standoff under the flyover.

"Confess," she begged him. "Turn the monsters in."

Was she really that naive? As if he'd ever live to testify, even supposing Dot was stupid enough to think he'd avoid a prison sentence.

Fortunately for them both, his getaway car turned up in time.

Dot couldn't help but pause for an instant to check Kate wasn't badly hurt. She wasn't, and Dot shook off the police habit of helping a fallen officer, and dived into the car like the escaping criminal he was.

Even then, Kate wasn't done, and Dot was laughing with the others about the chase she'd given when there was a bang, and a crack, and the car swerved into something and gave Dot a hell of a whack on his head.

Dot fell out of the car with his gun falling from his hands and somehow he wasn't surprised to see Kate shouting at him again. Hadn't they done this three minutes ago?

Dot's head was whirling and he could barely tell which way was up, but he heard the click of the safety and instinctively swung around to protect Kate.

The blow knocked him to the ground and he just had time to realise he was shot and then Kate was leaning over him and begging him for his Dying Declaration.

There was a part of him that wanted to say he was sorry, and he never meant things to turn out like this, and he never really was given the chance to follow a different path. By the time he'd wised up he was in too deep. But Kate wasn't asking for his excuses but the evidence that'd help nail some of the monsters she'd spoken of.

So Dot pushed his wants to one side and tried to tell her as much as he could in the few minutes he'd got left, though it was hard to breathe, and the sky was turning dark, and Dot wished he could see clearly enough to make out Kate's face.


End file.
